Method of connecting together metal bars, plates, or shapes by means of an interlocked rolled joint.



F. W. SKINNER. METHOD OF CONNECTING TOGETHER METAL BARS. PLATES. 0RSHAPES BY MEANS OF AN INTEHLOCKED ROLLED JOINT. 1,163,784.

APPLICATION FILED HOV. I3. 1913- Patented Dec. 14, 1915.

2 SHEETS-SHEET WITNESSES: W. WW

INVENTOR COLUMBIA PLANOGRAI'H co.. WASHINGTON, n. c4

F. W. SKINNER. METHOD OF CONNECTING TOGETHER METAL BARS. PLATES. 0RSHAPES BY MEANS OF AN INTERLOCKED ROLLED JOINT.

APPLICATION FILED NOV. l3. I913. 1,163,784. Patented,.l)ec. 14, 1915.

WITNESSES: INVENTOR wwww EMMNLM W COLUMBIA PLANOORAPH Co., WASHINGTON,l1. c7

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FRANK SKINNER, OF TOMPKINSVILLE, NEW YORK.

METHOD OF CONNECTING TOGETHER METAL BARS, PLATES, OR SHAPES BY MEANS OFAN INTERLOCKED ROLLED JOINT.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Dec. 14, 1915.

Application filed November 13, 1913. Serial No. 800,724.

T 0 all whom it may concern Be it known that I, FRANK WV. SKINNER, acitizen of the United States. residing at No. 41 Sherman avenue,Tompkinsville. in the county of Richmond and State of New York. haveinvented a new and useful Method of Connecting Together Metal Bars,Plates. or Shapes by Means of an Interlocked Rolled Joint, of which thefollowing isa specification.

My invention relates to a new method of permanently joining together twopieces of rolled metal to form the whole or a portion of a beam, strut.chord, trough, conduit, pipe cylinder, column or any closed or partlyclosed structural or fabricated member.

The joints can be made entirely by rolling. by first rollinglongitudinal projecting ele ments on the joint surface or face and thensuperimposing those faces and rolling them together under powerfulpressure. causing the elements to become rigidly and permanentlyinterlocked in a strong. solid joint.

Heretofore in practice the elements of all metal members and variousother fabricated sections like pipes. conduits, etc.. composed of rolledplates and shapes have been bolted or riveted together except when, atrelatively great expense. they have been welded.

Riveting structural members involves the laying out and punching ordrilling of holes and the driving of rivets, and the use of expensiveand powerful punches, drills and riveting machines, and costly rivets.It very seriously reduces the cross sections of the pieces riveted, thusinjuriously weakening them, and introducing other disadvantages. Thiswork can not be done by the rolling mill machinery. hut necessarilyinvolves the use of entirely different fabricating tools and the removalof the pieces from the mill to a fabricating shop.

By my method. plates, bars, shapes and other structural elements arevery rapidly, ouickly and perfectly joined together at a sli ht cost.

The i oint is very much stronger, smoother and ti hter than a rivetedjoint. and no lay- 0 'ng off, punching, drilling or riveting isinvolved. The pieces require no preparation whatever, but are ready asthey come from the rolling mill. and may be immediately joined togetherby passing through proper grooves in the same roll train in which'theywere made, thus finishing thecompleted member at the rolling mill, orthe elements may be shipped to any fabricating shop and there have thejoints made by rolling, by pressing, or by hammering.

The full original gross cross-sections of the pieces are preserved andthe metal is not only uninjured, but its strength is increased by thefabrication of the joint. There is no waste and no deterioration orinjury of metal. There are no exterior projections, the joints areperfectly smooth and tight and develop a far greater and more etlicientfrictional strength than is the case with any other form of fabricatedjoint. The joint involves no hand labor, fitting or heating. It may bemade entirely in the standard rolls, itsparts are always exact andinterchangeable and the completed joints must therefore necessarily beuniform and perfect. and are not subject to injury. imperfection. 0runcertainty of fabrication as are all other kinds of fabricated joints.

The joint is applicable to any surface formed parallel to the axis ofthe rolling mill rolls and the principal features of its constructionare the formation. in the rolls, when the bar, plate or shape is made.of a series of alternating longitudinal spurs and flanges projectingabove the general surface of the piece, and integral with it; theplacing of two pieces together with the spurs of the one pieceregistering between the flanges of the other piece and vice versa andthe forcing together of the two pieces by pressure applied in any way tothe back of each piece. perpendicular to the plane of the joint. thuscausing the spurs to deflect the flanges. forcing the latter intoinclined positions interlocking with each other and forming a series ofdovetails making up a solid interlocked joint.

The supreme advantage of this joint lies in the fact that the pieces canbe prepared for it wholly and entirely in the ordinary process of theirregular manufacture in the rolling mill, without involving any extratime, labor, or cost whatever over that necessary for the production ofplain. ordinary rolled bars. plates or shapes, and that after theseparate pieces. of an description required. are delivered from therolls, the joints can be completely fabricated by passing them quicklythrough the same or another roll train, thus making a continuous andvery rapid and inexpensive process and.

accomplishing the fabrication of the joint by the simplest, mostefficient, and powerful operations.

In the drawings: Figure 1 is a perspective view of a plate or bar withspurs and flanges rolled integral with it for a fabricated interlockedjoint. Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a bar or plate registered with acorresponding bar or plate in readiness for the fabrication of thejoint. Fig. 3 is an end elevation of the registered pieces insertedbetween a pair of rolls which, by their operation force the piecestogether under heavy pressure and form the joint by deflecting andinterlocking the longitudinal flanges of one piece with those of theother piece. Fig. t is a perspective view of the completed joint betweenthe two pieces. Fig. 5 is an elevation of a pair of manufacturing rollsadapted to form one member of an interlocked joint, and, shows a crosssection of a flat joint bar engaged between the rolls. Fig. 6 is anelevation of a pair of fabricating rolls adapted to force two flat-jointbars into engagement and form the interlocked joint, and shows in crosssection, a pair of flatjoint bars in interlocked engagement.

The finished joint shown in Fig. 6 differs from that shown in Fig. 4, inthat the spurs and flanges 3 and 1-, are formed partly above and partlybelow the joint surfaces of pieces 1 and 2, instead of wholly above themas in Fig. 4, so that when engaged to make the finished joint, the flatsurfaces 6. 6 of pieces 1 and 2 adjacent to the joint, are in contact,instead of being separated as in Fig. 4.

In Fig. 1, longitudinal spurs, 3-3 and flanges 4 1 are rolled integralwith the plate or bar 1. The sides of the flanges H are perpendicular,and the sides of the spurs 33 are inclined to the joint surface (36-666of the plate or bar 1 and to the axes of the rolls. There must be atleast two flanges and one spur or any multiple of spurs and pairs offlanges, but it is desirable that each piece 1, should have a series ofspurs and flanges commencing with a single flange followed by a spur anda pair of flanges, a spur and a pair of flanges and so on and endingwith a spur, so that there is a right and a left hand side and theduplicate pieces, reversed, end for end, register properly together forthe formation of a joint as shown in Figs. 23 1 and 6, thus eliminatingthe necessity for two different sets of spurs and flanges for a joint.

Fig. 2 shows one piece '1, of Fig. 1, registering with another piece 2,which here is a duplicate of 1, turned end for end, but may be any otherpiece with flanges and spurs arranged'to match those of piece 1.

Fig. 3 shows the two registered piecesl and 2 of Fig. 2 entering betweena pair of fabrieating rolls 55. The revolution of these rolls drawsthepieces through them and forces them powerfully together with a pressureheavy enough to cause the spurs 33 of one piece to deflect the flangesa' il of the other piece into the oblique positions shown in Fig. 4,thus making a clove-tailed interlock between them and causing theprojections in each piece to exactly fill the spaces in the other piece,creating a great pressure friction between their surfaces and making atight solid joint of great strength.

In Fig. 1 the completely fabricated interlocked joint is shown in crosssection with the flanges 4%-& of piece 1, deflected to oblique positionsby the spurs 33 of piece 2 and making close contact with said spurs andwith the deflected flanges l4 of piece 2. Similarly the flanges 44l ofpiece 2 have been deflected into oblique positions by the spurs 3-3 ofpiece 1 and are in complete engagement and close contact with the spursand flanges of piece 1. As the spurs and flanges of pieces 1 and 2 wereboth formed wholly beyond the joint surfaces 6-6 of the pieces, thesejoint surfaces 6-6 are separated by a space 10 in the finished joint.

In Fig. 5 one roll, 7, is provided with grooves 11, corresponding to thespurs and flanges 3 and 4. of the joint bar and the other roll, 8, has agroove, 12 corresponding to the opposite surface of the joint bar.

In Fig. 6, the fabricating rolls 9 and 18 have grooves 12 and 1stcorresponding to the surfaces opposite the spurs and flanges of the twojoint pieces. The grooves may be duplicate as here shown, or if thejoint spurs and angles are formed, as is often the case, on the surfacesof flat plates or bars, the

grooves may be omitted and the joint pieces may be rolled togetherbetween plain rolfs without grooves, as shown in Fig. 3.

The same or corresponding parts are designated by the same referencenumerals in all figures.

My joint is made by rolling on the surfaces of bars, shapes, plates orothers sections of metal, complementary sets of projecting longitudinalspurs and flanges the coacting surfaces of the respective'spurs andflanges having an oblique relation with respect to each other,superimposing one piece on the other with the spurs and flanges or onepiece in contact with and registering respectively with the flanges andspurs of the other piece, and then applying pressure,normal to the jointplane, to both pieces from end to end of the joint, and, thus causingthe spurs and flanges to be forced together until their surfaces areforced into complete contact and the flanges are permanently dy yflected into oblique interlocking position s forming a series ofinterwoven dovetails, opposed by the shearing and bending strength ofthe metal to displacement parallel or per pendicular to the surface-ofthe metal, and opposed by the high degree of frictional resistancedeveloped to any longitudinal displacement.

This operation of forcing the elements of the joint into interlockedpositions is extremely beneficial to the metal because when the partsare properly proportioned and compressed the bending of the metalproduces a large increase in the elastic limit and therefore in theeflicient safe working strength of the metal. The displacement of themetal in the flanges which are bent to oblique interlocking positions bythe fabricating pressure normal to the joint surface also develops ahigh degree of elasticity which tends to force the flanges back towardtheir original positions and thus forms a positive and permanentpressure gripping the contact surfaces very tightly together andcreating an enormous amount of friction which is beneficial and addsvastly to the strength of the joint.

The rolled elements of each joint surface are so arranged that there area plurality of single spurs alternating with pairs of flanges. The spursare triangular in cross section, the base of the triangle being integralwith the body of the piece, and the a ex projecting beyond the generalsurface. The flanges have approximately rectangular cross sections withtheir long sides perpendicular to the general plane of the joint and tothe surface of the piece. Preferably the exterior corners are roundedand the interior corners or angles are correspondingly filleted. Theflanges have a thickness relatively small as compared to their heightperpendicular to the plane of the joint.

The two flanges in each pair are separated with a clearance sufficientfor the entrance of the apex of the spur, and their outer edges areclose to the bases of the spurs so that when the spurs and flanges ofopposite pieces are fully engaged and interlocked. the spaces betweenthe spurs and flanges of one piece are completely filled by the flangesand spurs of the opposite piece.

In the process of making an interlocked, fabricated, metal joint Iclaim,

1. The method of making metal joint members which comprises rolling oneof the pieces to be united and simultaneously during said rolling actionproviding its face with a plurality of longitudinal projections andrecesses and rolling the other piece to be united with the first pieceand simultaneously providing its face with a plurality of longitudinalprojections and recesses, the projections and recesses of the saidpieces to be united having their coacting surfaces in oblique relationwith respect to each other, the said projections and recesses beingsuitably located on the surface of each piece so that correspondingprojections and recesses on the pieces are adapted to be forced intointerlocking engagement with each other.

2. In the fabrication of an interlocked metal joint, the steps whichcomprise assembling in superimposed relation two longitudinallyextending members each having ribs and flanges extending lengthwise ofthe members, and forcing the members of the joint together by a rollingaction until the flanges are transversely deflected and displaced intoclose contact, interlocked together. substantially as described.

3. The process of fabricating an interlocked metal joint, which comrises the formation by rolling of longitudinal spurs and flanges on thesurface of each piece to be united in the same operation by which thepieces are formed, assembling two pieces, one face superimposed on theother. with its spurs and flanges registering with the flanges and spursof the other piece, and then forcing together the two superimposed facesof the joint members perpendicular to the general plane of the joint.until the flanges are transversely deflected into complete en agementwith each other in oblique interlocking position, substantially asdescribed.

4. The process of fa ricating an interlocked metal joint which comprisesthe formation on the surface of each joint member of a plurality oflongitudinal spurs and flanges, the assembling together of twooverlapping or superimposed faces of the joint members with the spursand flanges of one face registered between and engaging the flan es andspurs of the other face and then forcing the two joint members to etherin a direction normal to the general plane of the joint until theflanges are deflected transversely into oblique positions interlockedwith and in complete contact with each other substantially as described.

Signed at New York city, this 12th day of November, 1913.

FRANK W. SKINNER.

Witnesses:

ALANSON SKINNER, M. S. SKINNER.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressingthe Commissioner of Patents.

Washington, D. 0.

